
I've now seen iPads used in retail and travel settings, both in New York City. I'm sure you can extrapolate where the trend is heading next.
My only other question is, why haven't you bought Apple stock yet?
SECOND PLACE DREAMS
VERSE
Growing up, felt like second place at everything,
Kindergarten, sports, and my pro baseball dream
My twenties felt like an emotional boxing ring
Landed in the hospital, but still hangin on by a string
It's hard starting something from nothing
Abandoning friends and family for selfish things
Surrounded by books and internet, mental traveling
And the only thing to show for it,
Lost love and stress, now ain't that something?
And the worst part is you need to stay positive and on your shit,
But people call you lame, selfish, and ego-centric
Which nearly shreds your last bit of confidence
Until you put the blinders on and remember those childish hints
About the love of the game and bubble gum, pop a fun mint
CHORUS
And then things change, second place dreams,
Change that steam to C.R.E.A.M.,
Cuz Cash Rules Everything Around Me
But the only thing that means anything is family.
VERSE
Just found out my grandma's contemplating suicide
Made it through the great depression and even when my grandpa died
But like your spirit, your hip broke again, time's never on your side,
And it keeps feeling like God's full of lies
Only you can fight nature's current and float through another tide
Believe in yourself, cuz I've always felt God's on the inside
I had to fight for my achievements, I never had a last name,
An Iowa work ethic and my parent's 40th anniversary game
The last four years have been a whirlwind, focused on business tools
A consulting job, two Startups, and a top 5 business school
But now I'm trying to change my selfish ways,
And impact people's lives for years, not just days
So I make you grab your dreams
Use that internal rumbling
To achieve things, not just buy things
And instead, become human beings
Because it's people's happiness,
Not things, that's life's true meaning.
CHORUS
And then things change, second place dreams,
Change that steam to C.R.E.A.M.,
Cuz Cash Rules Everything Around Me
But the only thing that means anything is family.
VERSE
I've never gotten respect or recognition from anyone
And that's the way it will be until the end
Let go of my ego, not a big, but a small head
And my family, you were there next to my hospital bed
My friends texted, the rest of you could give a fuck if I'm dead
You find out who loves you, four people, that's who, the rest of you, more like "Who cares if I ever met you?"
But here's the best part,
I'll always be there for you
And lend a thoughtful hand
A strong shoulder, and even my time, man
And to my family and my best friends, I got you when my ship lands
Cuz we grew up together, and that shit's forever, man
Man, it feels like I'm alone sometimes,
Like no one understands my entire life
Except for Dimmy, that woman's my wife,
Put up with my stupid antics, all the childish strife
But you've always been there,
Your faint touch and the wind through your hair
And no matter what, I'll always love you, I still care
So I'm doing my best to repair this disrepair.
CHORUS
And then things change, second place dreams,
Change that steam to C.R.E.A.M.,
Cuz Cash Rules Everything Around Me
But the only thing that means anything is family.
An unedited email I just sent a friend regarding his trust and whether his trustee should invest in Apple or not. You can't see the email exchange, but you may be able to decipher it:
Hey man, a few comments as it relates to portfolio theory, my own experience running an equity-based investment shop, and my personal retirement investments:
1. As you know, I'm long apple and it represents a significant portion of my long-term retirement portfolio, actually $30K worth. I also own about 20 mutual funds a few bonds, Goldman Sachs, an energy company (EGY), and the DJIA tracking stock (DIA). 2. Equities get a bad rap due to the glorification of day trading during the dot com boom and their comparative "riskiness" as they relate to mutual funds or fixed income. The fact is, however, that literally ALL of my portfolio returns over the last 6 years have come from 4 things: AAPL, GS, EGY, DIA -- the four equity-related stocks. The bonds and mutual funds have been a wash. It's true that they're less risky as it relates to the "world" of equity investing, but it puts a damper on both the downside AND the upside. 3. The key to all of this is something called the Sharpe Ratio, which is just fancy finance speak for "risk-adjusted return". In layman terms, it's a measure of how big a return you can expect per unit of riskiness. I've chosen the gold standard Apple and Goldman Sachs because they're literally not going anywhere. Apple has a cash runway until 2018, that's nuts! Warren Buffet invested in Goldman (yes, he got preferred, but it's still a sign of trust). 4. As it relates to Dividends, there is always confusion about this. Most people think that stocks that pay dividends are actually paying you, but in fact the dividend yield is already baked into the fair market value of the stock price. Thus, you're actually worse off due to the time value of money because you're not receiving the full value of the stock in the present time (present value of discounted cash flows, in this case, dividends). You have to wait for each future value dividend payment in perpetuity (i.e., forever) in order to get the full value of the stock. 5. Thus, never buy stocks for the dividend, instead take the buffet approach. Understand everything there is to know about the industry, the company, their competitors, their customers, supply chain, and add into it anything that you don't think is baked into the stock price (in Apple's case, nobody baked the iPad into the stock price 2 years ago, but the current stock price does. That's where fundamental and technical analysis of any stock breaks down). 6. In Apple's case, I know absolutely everything (public) there is to know about the governing dynamics affecting this stock, including things that I don't think have been baked into the stock, such as the billion dollar data center in North Carolina they've been building for years that nobody knows what it's for (the rumor is streaming/cloud itunes and music, but I'm guessing it's going to go much deeper than that). 7. In summary, I'm actually still investing in Apple and have yet to sell a share of stock. My return is pretty significant over the past few years (you only need to look at a stock price chart on Google finance to see that). My only regret was listening to a naysayer when it was at $80/share instead of trusting my gut. Because of that, I missed out on an $80/share gain. 8. My price target for apple, barring Steve Jobs untimely death and Jony Ivy leaving for the UK is $500/share within the next year. Last quarter their revenue AND profit doubled. Let me repeat that. It FUCKING DOUBLED! Do you know the degree of difficulty for pulling something like that off even for small companies? Now take a huge, global company like apple and try to do that. It's unprecedented and people still can't get their hands on an iPad 2 because supply is still constrained. What's going to happen when the iPhone 5 comes out. I'll tell you what. Pan-de-freaking-monium. 9. I'll leave you with one final thought. Name one other brand (company, musician, person, anything) that people are willing to stand in line for a week for. Other than Michael Jackson (RIP), I can't name one.
It's like a battery. You really don't care about it until it stops working.
Rules:
As part of this Body by Evolyte initiative, we go to the gym around 3 days a week at about 5pm and get smoothies from Jamba Juice afterwards. Yesterday, upon seeing us walk in the door, two employees who we don't see that often went to the back of the store and returned with our pre-made, refridgerated smoothies they had waiting for us.
The owner wasn't around and the boss certainly wasn't around. They didn't get excited when we tipped them with a $20. They did it to make us smile. And it worked.
That's excellence any way you slice it. I challenge you to do better.
There's a man I know who's continually WOWed me with great customer service. Check him out on Twitter: Joel David Barnes.